US Veteran Fighting in Christian Militia Against ISIS Reacts to Obama’s No ‘Complete Strategy’ Admission

09 Jun, 2015 by Jennifer Van Laar

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A US Army veteran didn’t hold back in his reaction to President Obama’s admission earlier this week that “we don’t have a complete strategy yet” for dealing with ISIS because it requires participation from the Iraqis.

In an interview with IJReview, Brett, a 28-year-old Army veteran who’s been serving with a Christian militia, spoke candidly about the lack of strategy by coalition forces in Iraq:

“If you’re this far into something and you haven’t come up with a complete strategy, you have no strategy.”
Calling President Obama’s efforts to combat ISIS “discouraging,” Brett added that the problems in that part of the world have become unnecessarily much larger:

“Because of [President Obama’s] incompetence, a once small issue has grown relatively stronger in the Middle East, due to his inability. If he would have kept troops in Iraq and helped train and rebuild, ISIS would not exist in the capacity that it does.”
Brett maintained that the President commands the planet’s most powerful military, but “just admitted to the world that he doesn’t know what he is doing.”

Brett, who fought in Iraq with the U.S. Army from 2006-2007, also alluded to why he chose to fight with a Christian militia, as opposed to re-enlisting with the Army:

“I chose to fight in a militia because you have the ability to do what a military can’t. You may not have equipment and funding but you don’t have to cut through all the red tape. And let me ask you this what military is actually doing something?”
Brett served with Dwekh Nawsha, a Christian militia. The name “Dwekh Nawsha” derives from an Assyrian-language phrase meaning “self-sacrifice.”

Despite Obama’s comments on Monday, the administration maintains that ISIS has suffered massive casualties as a result of U.S.-led coalition airstrikes, taking nearly 10,000 ISIS militants. But the exact figures have been widely speculated on, with some hinting that the administration’s claims are unrealistic.

Obama’s reliance on the Iraqis making a decision and committing to a plan when clearly portions of their government are either aligned with ISIS or incompetent in their ability to wage war, or both, is baffling. This is the time when the world needs a leader, not a community organizer focused on getting buy-in from wishy-washy allies.